Aug. 18, 2020

MINNEAPOLIS — Two high school seniors planning journalism careers will receive 2020 Honor Roll Scholarships from the National Scholastic Press Association for their accomplishments in academics and journalism.

Salomé Cloteaux, of Columbus North High School, Columbus, Indiana, has won a $1,000 scholarship, and Olivia Pettee, of Pine Crest School, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has won a $500 scholarship as runner up.

Cloteaux and Pettee were selected from among hundreds of high school and middle school journalists named to this year’s NSPA Honor Roll of Student Journalists. The Honor Roll recognizes student journalists who have achieved a 3.5 or higher grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) and have completed at least two years on staff by the end of this school year. Seniors on the honor roll are eligible to apply for these scholarships.

In spring 2020, Cloteaux served as editor of The Triangle newsmagazine, at Columbus North, where she had served as writer, copy editor and in-depth reporter.

Her adviser, Rachel McCarver, praised how Cloteaux’s reporting connected with student readers across platforms.

“Salomé has taken her storytelling abilities and interest in news events to the next level when she volunteered to cover the events of the Indiana teacher protests at the state capitol building,” McCarver said. “Since this was something that was happening outside of school hours, she was not required to attend the event, but she realized the importance of what was happening, and she went with another student to make sure that there was record of the events that were going on and how they might impact the teachers in our school.”

In her application essay, Cloteaux wrote that, as editor, she has learned perseverance, dedication, collaboration and compromise.

“I learned that there is nothing like the feeling of pride and love you have for your team members as a leader,” she said. “I know that even though I will fail and make mistakes, I am a leader. I am no longer shy. I am no longer quiet.”

At Pine Crest School, Pettee joined the staff of The Crestian yearbook as a sophomore, became managing editor as a junior and served as co-editor-in-chief her senior year.

“Olivia’s growth as a student journalist is the finest representation of her character,” adviser Patty Gómez wrote in her recommendation. “She leads a large team of 67 staffers and 12 individual contributors in collaboration with her co-editor.

“She has developed all the skills she needed to understand the big-picture process of producing a 412-page high quality yearbook.”

In her application essay, Pettee wrote about what she called the invisible work of journalism — all of the work preceding publication.

“Being in charge of the story and how it is told is a great responsibility,” she said. “I aspire to learn how to find those voices that are often in the shadow of storytelling.”

NSPA, the nation’s largest association of scholastic media, provides training and recognition of achievement to high school and middle school journalists. It serves hundreds students and their advisers with two national conventions each year, including the Fall National High School Journalism Convention, Nov. 19-22. NSPA’s renowned Pacemaker Awards honor the top scholastic newspapers, yearbooks, magazines, websites and broadcasts, and its individual awards celebrate student work through dozens of specific categories.

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